MR. OWEN CEGIELSKI'S PORTFOLIO

Here I am, dressed as Julius Caesar, during the my school's "Rome Day" on January 30, 2009! I invite you to read my article below as well as explore my portfolio, featuring many recent career highlights and innovative teaching ideas in the field of secondary Social Studies.

PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHT #1: LAUNCH THE CATAPULTS!

EXPERIMENTAL HISTORY IN THE CLASSROOM : RECONSTRUCTING ANCIENT WAR TECHNOLOGIES By Mr. Owen Cegielski, History Teacher at Carbon Valley Secondary Academy

Motivated by the field of experimental archaeology, in which scientists reconstruct ancient dwellings and make stone tools, I challenged my 6th grade history students with a similar approach. For over two weeks, students studied different designs for catapults and trebuchets, created by the ancient Romans and peoples of the medieval period, and reconstructed these early weapons of war. The project required students to make cross-curricular connections by fostering their use of historical, mathematical and scientific skills. Moreover, while the students expressed many diverse ideas and opinions, they learned how to work together as a team in order to achieve success.I collaborated with Mr. Dave Floodeen, CVSA’s science teacher, who introduced the students to early physics lessons, including an understanding of how counterweights, tension and elasticity, and the angles at which objects are thrown determine the distance which they will travel. In theory, the medieval trebuchets, which function using counterweights and slings, should throw the objects further than our Roman catapults. Students discovered the answer on launch day--Friday, January 30th, 2009. Dressed in authentic-looking Roman and medieval armor, students launched softballs, potatoes and other items at hay stacks, marked with bullseyes, in our school field. Parents, community members, and press reporters cheered on our students who launched their objects with accuracy and distance, ranging close to 100 feet! I am extremely proud of my 6th graders' achievements!

Note: This event was recently published in the newspaper! Read the exciting news below!

Attacking history Carbon Valley Academy students build ancient war weapons

By Kimberly Pursel The Carbon Valley Edition

Inspired by the field of experimental archaeology, Carbon Valley Academy history students had the opportunity to re-create history by building ancient war weapons.

On Friday, sixth-grade history class students tested their weapons by launching potatoes, softballs, bouncy balls, fruit and vegetables from catapults they had designed and built.

“We studied Roman history for a month, including the different designs for catapults and trebuchets created by the ancient Romans that were used as early weapons of war,” said Owen Cegielski, history teacher at Carbon Valley Secondary Academy.

Working in groups of four, students designed and built either a catapult or trebuchet.

“The Romans used catapults to attack at their opponents during war,” said student Noah Bolitho. “It was a lot of fun building our catapult and doing all the different wood work.”

The project required students to make a cross-curricular connection by fostering their use of historical, mathematical and scientific skills when designing and building the catapults and trebuchets, according to Cegielski.

“I collaborated with Dave Floodeen, CVSA’s science teacher, who introduced the students to early physics lessons, including an understanding of how counterweights, tension, elasticity and the angles at which objects are thrown determine the distance which they will travel,” Cegielski said.

“In theory, the medieval trebuchets, which function using counterweights and slings, should throw the objects farther than our Roman catapults.”

Students dressed in medieval and Roman garb on launch day to test the theory.

The all-girl team said their trebuchet threw a small bouncy ball the farthest during the morning catapult launch.

“It is the tiniest and it went the farthest,” said Samantha Garcia. “Mr. Floodeen helped us get our angle right so it could really fly far.”

Kimberly Pursel can be reached at

303... or by e-mail at kpursel@times-call.com.DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE IN ELECTRONIC FORM BELOW:

That’s the way Emily Higbee, a ninth-grader at Carbon Valley Secondary Academy in Frederick, summed up what she learned as a participant in Project Citizenship.

She is one of 13 students at the school who completed the project, a new program that encourages kids to focus on their communities and learn the importance of volunteering.

“I implemented the program to teach the students how important it is to be a responsible community member,” said Owen Cegielski, a history teacher at the school.

Project Citizenship requires students to volunteer four hours to helping others in the community.

On Dec. 15, six students from Cegielski’s class rang bells for the Salvation Army at the Super Walmart in Westminster, while the other students visited a Broomfield nursing home on Dec. 16.

The students said it was an educational and “eye-opening” experience, and they said they plan to again volunteer their time in the future.

At the nursing home, student Daniel Judson played his guitar for Alzheimer’s patients for nearly two hours.

“The attendant at the nursing home said that the patients all had short attention spans and liked to move around a lot,” Cegielski said. “But Daniel’s music was soothing to them and kept them very still.”

While peeling an orange for an elderly man who was unable to do it on his own, student Haley Dennis said she learned about the importance of life.

“I was talking to Bob, who was married for 50 years, and his wife died about one year and three months ago,” Dennis said. “He told me to cherish what you have before it’s gone.”

Student Ladd Embrey also spoke with Bob, a veteran of World War II.

“He taught me that whatever I decide to do in my life now will etch out the rest of my life,” Embrey said.

The students who helped out the Salvation Army braved strong wind and temperatures that dipped below zero.

Dakota Bingham put socks over his cold hands to keep them warm.

“Some guy donated money to us like three times,” said April Silva.

“And Rafa (Ventura) went to help a woman who fell when she slipped on the ice, and she ended up donating afterward,” added Hannah Partee.

Cegielski’s students reflected on their day by writing a report and compiling a group collage filled with photos of their experiences.

“It was definitely a rewarding opportunity,” said student Joey Rener.

Kimberly Pursel can be reached at

303... or kpursel@times-call.com. DOWNLOAD THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE ARTICLE BELOW:

2009'S PROJECT CITIZENSHIP ARTICLE PUBLICATION IN THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER!

UPDATE 12/20/09: This year, the 9th grade class volunteered at two worthy organizations. At Malley Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Denver, CO., students set up Christmas decorations and visited with elderly patients, including leading a game of bingo. At the Salvation Army in Greeley, CO., students sorted clothes and toys and set up Christmas decorations in preparation for the Army's annual toy drive. Once again, students found this experience to be very enlightening. See the link to our YouTube video below:

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MY PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND? DOWNLOAD A COPY OF MY RESUME BELOW:

MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

Mr. Owen Cegielski, Secondary History TeacherAdjunct Professor

When I was a high school student approximately 15 years ago, I had grown accustomed to memorizing facts straight from the textbook. Moreover, most of my teachers lectured during the whole class period, without providing students with the opportunity to actively contribute to their own learning process. While studying to become a history teacher, I often wondered how educators could “bring history alive” in a way that would stimulate students’ curiosity and critical thinking skills. Based upon recent research in education, best practice methods, and my own teaching experiences, I have developed a new philosophy on education with five guiding principles. These principles challenge educators to work collaboratively with students, parents, and school administrators to create active, student-centered learning environments. I also call upon all educators to teach students how to respect cultural diversity and to confront social injustice.

Principle I: In order to address different learning styles and levels of cognition in the classroom, teachers should engage students in active, cooperative learning experiences, such as role play, debates, Socratic seminars, speechmaking, art projects, primary source reading and analysis, creative writing, research assignments, and community-service projects. When appropriate, teachers should place students in small, mixed-ability groups in order to analyze important historical and social issues and develop solutions. Such problem-solving activities facilitate language development and require students to use Benjamin Bloom’s higher orders of critical thinking skills: application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Moore, 102-105). As an added benefit, active learning experiences facilitate long-term memory storage. As the famous theorist John Dewey once argued, students build upon knowledge and learn through experience. Since students learn best by “doing,” my students have completed such integrative projects as building Roman and medieval catapults and trebuchets as well as World War II rubber-band powered model planes!

Principal II: When creating daily lesson and unit plans, teachers should clearly state their learning goals, the types of skills and knowledge that students are expected to master, the means by which students will meet those objectives, and the methods of assessment. I assess student learning through the use of grading rubrics, which clearly show the criteria that is used to evaluate an assignment. Moreover, I advocate the use of tests which require students to demonstrate their understanding of the subject material. Rather than true-false questions, my history exams typically feature maps, graphs and tables, political cartoons, primary source readings, multiple choice questions, and essay response questions. Such assessments can be used to measure and quantify student progress during each major marking period.

Principle III: Since schools must adapt to our evolving technological age, teachers should incorporate several types of technologies and multimedia in the classroom. My daily notes and lesson plans are always copied on transparencies and presented on an overhead projector. Moreover, students benefit from my PowerPoint presentations, which incorporate the latest research, primary sources, and historical photographs from different topics and eras in United States and World History. At the school's computer lab, students frequently research historical topics on the Internet or complete activities using computer software, including the three-dimensional design program called Google Sketch Up. In addition, I have accumulated a large video collection, including historical documentaries and biographies on important people and events of the past. These kinds of technologies aid in visual learning and encourage students to apply their critical thinking skills during the completion of challenging tasks.

Principle IV: Excessive use of punishment should be avoided in the classroom. Rather, the educational theorist Thomas Gordon stresses the establishment of positive working relationships between teachers and students (Moore, 418). Teachers must build a sense of trust with their students and help them to evaluate their own actions and change their disruptive behaviors. Through the use of a variety of physical gestures and verbal signals, teachers can tell students how they feel about a problem situation and invite them to correct the situation. For example, in my own classroom, I frequently become silent and stare at the students who are disrupting the class until they become silent. If that proves ineffective, I often announce, “I am frustrated with all of the talking in this class,” or “ I will be disappointed in some of you if we cannot complete the lesson.” If the problem still persists, I arrange meetings with the school counselor and contact the parents. I conduct parent-teacher conferences in a democratic manner, providing students and the parents with the opportunity to voice their issues and concerns before reaching a mutually beneficial solution. Teachers must work with the students in order to solve problems and to create a caring, democratic community of learners.

Principle V: Teachers in the field of history, but in other disciplines as well, need to develop an anti-racist, multicultural pedagogy. Such an approach would require teachers to become “transformative intellectuals” and actively engage in self-critique about how to foster more equitable learning experiences. As theorist Henry Giroux argues, “Transformative intellectuals need to develop a discourse that unites the language of critique with the language of possibility, so that social educators recognize that they can make changes. In doing so, they must speak out against economic, political, and social injustices both within and outside schools” (Giroux, 128). As transformative intellectuals, educators could effectively adopt what Gloria Ladson-Billings terms a culturally relevant pedagogy, which “not only addresses student achievement but also helps students to accept and affirm their cultural identity while developing critical perspectives that challenge inequities that schools (and other institutions) perpetuate” (Ladson-Billings, 469). In my history classes, I provide opportunities for students to express their pride for their cultural heritages and to speak out against social injustices in mainstream American society. In fact, I created a very successful student organization known as Youth Against Racism, which provided students with an outlet to discuss the meaning of racism, to help the victims of racist acts, and to develop strategies to promote respect for cultural diversity in the school and community.

My five principles on education challenge educators to demonstrate a caring attitude toward their students, to engage students in structured learning experiences that tap into the higher orders of critical thinking and multiple intelligences, and to teach students to respect differences and to confront social injustice. As an experienced educator, I have always worked actively with students, parents, and school administrators to build a healthier community that recognizes students’ diverse talents and achievements.

SAMPLE LESSON: THE WORLD WAR II BOARD GAME PROJECT!

I am strong proponent of project-based learning, which requires students to apply their critical thinking skills to complete hands-on activities. One of my students culminating assessments is to create their own educational World War II board games. Please take a look at the project requirements below as well as my method of assessment--a scoring rubric including such criteria as fact-gathering, playability, and group collaboration.

Design A World War II Board Game!

Introduction and objectives: For our culminating unit project on World War II, you will design a board game (for up to six players) which focuses on a political conflict/war of past or present! Unlike traditional tests with their emphasis on recall, this project challenges you to exercise higher-level thinking skills—comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation, and most important, synthesis—to complete complex problem-solving tasks. The project focuses on the key questions, difficult issues, essential understandings, and important concepts of the unit. The overall purpose of this project is to teach others about significant people and events of World War II as well as explain why Germany and the Axis Powers lost the War.

Because your board game will be only one part of some larger instructional environment, you have more freedom than is usual in instructional design and more opportunity to be creative! Anything that is not taught or reinforced by your game will be taken care of by some other medium and format.

The maximum points you can earn on this project is 50 (40 points from rubric + 10 points for your bibliography of 3-5 sources featuring proper citations!)Your due date is:

Topics:

1.Rise of dictators and fascist governments, 1919-1933.

2.Events leading up to World War II, 1933-1939. “Can the War be prevented?”

3.The Western Front, 1939-1945, Britain, France, and U.S. vs. Germany and the Axis*

ANOTHER SAMPLE LESSON: GOOGLE SKETCH HISTORY PROJECTS!

I incorporate technology in my lessons on a daily basis. For example, using the computer design program Google Sketch Up, students designed 3-dimensional representations of historical World War I battlefields. Moreover, I have required other classes to design sections of the Berlin Wall as well as Greek and Roman cities! Students love the program, and it brings history to life in a concrete way. You can download Google Sketch Up for free at:http://sketchup.google.com/download/.

Read my WWI trench lesson plan below:

OBJECTIVE: To understand the layout and characteristics of a WWI battlefield. To understand life on the battlefield. To explain why trench warfare often resulted in stalemates and heavy casualties.Directions:

2) Working in small groups, you will select one of the following battles: Verdun, Ypres (1st, 2nd or 3rd), the Somme, Tannenberg, Gallopoli3) Using Google Sketch Up, you will build a 3-D computer model of the battlefield and label all major features. Please be as authentic and realistic as possible!

4) Using your model, give a presentation to the class, explaining the sites and conditions on the battlefield, as well as the outcome.

Greek City Google Sketch Up Project:

Objective: To understand the architectural features and characteristics of Ancient Greek city states.

•Research Guidelines--Each group will research one of the following topics:1) Ancient Greek Temples2) Ancient Greek Forts 3) Ancient Greek Theatres 4) Ancient Greek Houses and Marketplaces

•As you collect information on your topic, you will complete the Research Collection Sheet. Good place to start: http://www.ancient-greece.org/architecture.htmlYou must rewrite all information. Do not copy other people’s words! You must also site each reference source that is used. •Once finished with your research, your group will design and build a 3-D model of your topic. If the computers are available, we will use a computer program called “Google Sketch Up” to render the models. Otherwise, we will build them out cardboard, clay or another material.

MORE LESSON SAMPLES: MOCK COURT TRIALS

Hosting mock court trials on famous Supreme Court cases or about controversial individuals is a great way for students to develop the important skills of evidence gathering and oral persuasion. I have held mock court trials on the following: Christopher Columbus, King Leopold II of Belgium, King Louis XVI of France, the Scopes Monkey Trial, and Korematsu v.the United States. Below, is my lesson plan on the controversial Korematsu case, involving the issue of forced relocation of Japanese American citizens during World War II. I obtained much of the background reading materials from the site www.landmarkcases.org/ and modifed the assignments for the mock court trial. This case always fosters great debates! Enjoy! DOWNLOAD THE UNIT AND LESSON BELOW IN POWERPOINT FORMAT:

FINAL SAMPLE LESSON: RECREATE THE TERRA COTTA ARMY OF ANCIENT CHINA!

Published article and photograph in the October 2009 edition of the Stallion Times, demonstrating my love for hands-on projects involving historical reconstruction:

"6th grade history students recreated the famous Terracotta Army with their own versions of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China. Even Ms. Nickell, Phoenix’s mother, got to make her won Warrior when she visited Mr. Cegielski’s room."

Additional Comment: Yes, I also required my 6th Grade students to dig a large ditch in the school grounds outside and to strategically place their 6-inch soldiers inside (see photo on the left). Afterall, this is close to how the actual archaeological dig site looks in China!